Building brick



Oct. 23, 1928.

1,688,902 H. R. STRAIGHT BUILDING BRICK Filed March 8, 1926 iii PatentedGet. 23, 1928.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HALVEB R. STRAIGHT, OF ADEL, IOWA.

BUILDING BRICK.

Application filed March 8 19.26.

The object of my invention is to provide a building brick or the ..ikeso constructed that the drying and burning and cooling of the brick inits process of manufacture may be more rapidly accomplished withoutsetting up excessive shrinkage strains, and at the same time providesmeans whereby the shearing strength between the brick and the mortarjoints, when they are supported in a wall construction, will be greatlyincreased, and the tendency of the brick to float in green mortar, whilebeing laid, is decreased.

My invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combinationof the various parts of the device, whereby the objects cntemplated areattained, as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my claims,and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of my improved brick.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of same, a portion of which is shown insection.

Figure 3 is an end elevation of same, a portion of which is in section.

Figure fi: is a diagrammatical view illustrating the manner in which thedrying takes place with my improved construction.

Figure 5 is a diagrammatical view showing the manner in which the dryingtakes place in the ordinary construction.

Figure 6 is a segmental plan view of modilied form of my improved brick.

I have found that if an undried brick of rectangular cross section isplaced in a drier and subjected to rapid drying, the brick will dry morerapidly near the outer surfaces than at its center, and set up shrinkagestrains to such an extent that warping or cracking will take place.

I have also found that when the brick is thus rapidly dried, the moistarea or undried center gradually assumes the shape of .an ellipse, asviewed in cross'section, in somewhat the manner as illustrated by theline 10 in Figure 5 of the drawing.

I have. also found that the drying takes place quite rapidly until ithas dried to such an extent that this elliptical formation is quitepronounced, after which the rapidity of the drying process decreasesuntil the center has dried thoroughly. It often happens that on accountof the length of time required to dry the center of the brick, they areplaced in the burning kiln before the center is completely dried, orwhile the center contains a Serial No. 93,241.

higher percentage of moisture than the outer surface, while asa matterof fact to obtain the best results in burning, the bricks should beuniformly dried before being placed in the burning kiln. If the bricksare placed in the burning kiln before the centers and outer surfaces areof a uniform dryness, vapors and gases will be formed within the bricks,causing pressure strains as well as shrinkage strains, which furtherassist in warping and cracking and internally straining the brick, andproduces a product of very inferior quality and strength.

Referring to Figure 5, let it be assumed that the drying has progressedto the elliptical line 10. It will then be seen that the distance from Ato B is greater than the distance from O to D, and the distance from Cto D is greater than the distance from E to F, and that the outer driersurface is very ununiform in thickness, so that a number of weak pointsare established where cracks or fractures or strains may easily takeplace. It will further be seen that if the top and bottom surfaces 11and 12 of said brick were increased, the elliptical line 10 might bemade to assume an elongated loop with its sides substantially parallel,as indicated by the numeral 13 in Figure 4.

To accomplish this result, 1 have formed in each of the outer sidesurfaces of the brick 14- a series of transversely and longitudinallyextending V-shaped recesses 15, so that the said surfaces are providedwith a series of outwardly extending pyramids 16, thus increasing theexposed drying surface of the central portion of the side faces of thebrick. The rapidity with which the brick dries is in proportion to thesurface exposed to the drying medium.

It will further be seen that the grooves 15 are deeper at their centralportions than at their ends, so that the surfaces of the pyramids attheir centers are considerably greater than the surfaces of the pyramidsat the edges and ends of the brick. The depth of these grooves can be socalculated that the drying line 10 shown in Figure 5 will assume aflatter condition, as illustrated by the line 13 in Figure 4, therebyproviding means whereby the sectional area of the drier portion of thebrick is of substantially uniform thickness 011 all sides, and therebyeliminating to a large extent the possibility of weak points in saiddrier portion, where cracking and. warp ing and straining would takeplace;

To further illustrate this method of drying, let it be assumed that thedistance from C to D in Figure 5 is equal to the distance from G to H inFigure 4. It will readily be seen that the time for drying the brick, asillustrated in Figure 5 from the point I) to C, would be the same asrequired to dry the brick illustrated in Figure 4 from the point H tothe point G. It will further be seen that the brick, as illustrated inFigure 4, is practically dried while the brick in Figure 5 is only abouttwo-thirds dried.

In Figures 1, 2 and 3 I have shown the central portions of the sides ofthe brick formed with a series of pyramids which are deeper at thecentral portion of the brick. It will be seen that the same result mightbe accomplished by simply making either longitudinal or transversegrooves, somewhat as shown in Figure 6. I preferably leave a narrow bandor border 17 around the outer edges of the side surfaces which has notbeen grooved, to form a protection for the pyramids 16, as well as togive the brick the appearance of being of rectangular formation, asviewed from the ends or edges.

It will further be seen that by providing the upperand lower surfaces ofthe brick with the pyramids 16, I have provided means whereby theshearing bond between the brick and the mortar joint will be greatlyincreased when the brick is laid in a. wall construction. This is also avery desirable point, due to the fact that a mortar joint is the weakestpoint in the wall construction, especially in hard and vitrified brick,and bricks of this kind laid in mortar will make a wall of greaterlateral strength than when not indented on the surfaces.

The diagrams in Figures 4 and 5 show the approximate condition thatwould take place if the plastic brick were subjected to a drying mediumwhere all of its surfaces were entirely exposed thereto. It happens,however, in actual practice that the bricks are usually stacked on edge,while in the drying kiln, which considerably reduces the drying effectof the edges of the brick and would alter the shape of the ellipticalline 10, cansing it to be somewhat flatter than illustrated in Figure 5,in which case the depth of the central portions of the. grooves 15 wouldhave to be somewhat decreased. In fact, it will be seen that in actualpractice other portions of the surface of the brick other than thecenter might have to be provided with deeper grooves. The location ofthese deeper portions of the grooves would have to be arranged to meetthe working conditions of the particular kiln and the manner in whichthey are set for the different processes in which the bricks are beingdried, burned and cooled.

It is well known fact that bricks are more or less under a. continuousstrain, due

to expansion and contraction as they pass which the carbonaceous fuelsburn out of the brick and at the time vitrification takes place,shrinkage and contraction again takes place. As the bricks are rapidlycooled, it will be seen that the outer surface again contracts in aboutthe same manner as described for drying.

Thus it will be seen that I have provided a brick so constructed thatthe contraction and expansion may be taken care of in such a manner thatthe time for drying, burning and cooling may be materially shortenedwithout setting up disastrous internal and external strains.

I claim as my invention:

1. A brick of substantially rectangular formation, two of the oppositefaces of said brick being provided with a series of intersecting groovesto form outwardly projecting members,'the grooves being deeper at theircentral portions than at their ends, and so proportioned that the dryingsurface of said opposite faces will be gradually in creased from theiredges to their central por' tions. 7

2. A brick of substantially rectangular formation, two of the oppositefaces of said brick being provided with grooves deeper at their centralportions than their outer .ends, so that the drying surface of saidfaces will gradually increase from their edges toward their centralportions,

HAL'VER R. STRAIGHT.

